Empty Nest
by Ilex the Elder
Summary: When Laurel Oak turns ten, she prepares for her Pokemon journey. As Samuel and Delia get ready to send her away from the nest, they reminisce about their first days of parenthood. This is the other "missing chapter" from 'Til Death Do Us Part
1. Default Chapter

"Happy birthday, dear Laurel! Happy birthday to you!"

It was Laurel Oak's tenth birthday, a day she had been eagerly anticipating for weeks. Today was the day she would receive her first Pokémon and begin her journey as a Pokémon trainer. The only problem was that she still hadn't made up her mind as to which Pokémon she would choose. She had been agonizing over it for weeks. She had asked everyone: Ash, Misty, Gary, Brock, and had even called Tracey in the Orange Islands for his advice. But everyone had a different opinion as to which Pokémon would be best to start out with, which didn't help her very much.

"Make a wish and blow out the candles, dear," Delia told her daughter.

Laurel closed her eyes and screwed up her face in concentration.

__

I wish I could decide which Pokémon to choose, Laurel thought as she blew out the candles on her birthday cake.

"So what did you wish for, Laurel?" Misty asked.

"I can't tell you or else it won't come true."

"I bet I know what you wished for," Ash told his sister with a conspiratorial smile. "It's the same thing I wished for on my tenth birthday."

"Speaking of which," Professor Oak stood up. "Why don't we go to the lab, Laurel? I have something there for you."

Laurel followed her father to his research laboratory.

"I can't believe you're ten already, Laurel. It seems like yesterday you were just a baby." 

__

She's growing up too fast, he thought with regret.

"Nevertheless, since today's your birthday, it means that you're ready to begin your journey as a Pokémon trainer." He led her to the Pokémon storage area, which consisted of a shelving system that took up an entire wall of the laboratory. Every space on the shelf was filled with Poké balls. 

"Laurel, because you know the Pokémon in this lab as well as I do, if not better than I do, you may choose from any Pokémon in this laboratory."

Laurel couldn't believe her ears. "_Any_ Pokémon?"

"Yes. You've grown up in this lab and spent your entire life learning about Pokémon, so I'm comfortable with letting you chose from any of the Pokémon here."

Now Laurel's decision was complicated a hundredfold. She had spent weeks trying to decide if she should choose Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander. And now her father was telling her that she could choose from any of the hundreds of different types of Pokémon that were known to exist. Laurel was completely overwhelmed.

"Oh, Dad. I…I don't know which one to choose."

"Well, how about a Seel or Weepinbell? Maybe a Ditto or a Ponyta, perhaps?" he suggested helpfully. "And I know that Ash would be thrilled if you chose a Pikachu," he said, eyes twinkling.

__

How am I ever going to decide which Pokémon to chose now, Laurel thought as she stood staring at the multitude of Poké balls. As she was trying to figure out which one would be best, she suddenly realized that there was one person's opinion that she had forgotten.

She turned to her father. "Dad, which Pokémon did you start out with when you were a trainer?"

"Me? Oh, I started out with a Charmander." He momentarily lost himself in reminiscence. "I named it Char and raised it until it evolved into a Charizard. I still can remember vividly our first battle together. It was against a Geodude. Obviously, we didn't do too well." He smiled. "You will never forget your first Pokémon, Laurel." 

Her mind was made up. "Then I want a Charmander, too." 

Professor Oak was surprised by her choice. "Laurel, I told you that you could have any Pokémon you wanted. You don't have to limit yourself to just the beginner Pokémon."

"If a Charmander is what you started out with, Dad, then that's the one I want to start out with, too," Laurel said firmly.

Overcome with joy, Professor Oak hugged his daughter. "You've made your old father very happy, Laurel. Now let me go find you a Charmander." He selected one of the Poké balls and handed it to her. 

Laurel pressed the button on the Poké ball, and a Charmander appeared in a flash of red light.

"Char!"

"Oh, Daddy," Laurel exclaimed excitedly at the sight of her first Pokémon. "It's a female Charmander! And judging by the coloration, she came from Cinnabar Island."

"Excellent, Laurel. You're correct." It never ceased to amaze him at just how much she knew. The girl was literally a walking Pokédex.

"Come on, let's go show everyone my new Pokémon!"

--- 

While Laurel was busy showing off her new Pokémon to everyone at the party, Samuel went off in search of Delia. She had disappeared while he and Laurel were in the lab. He found her upstairs in Laurel's room, sitting on the bed and clutching her daughter's stuffed Wigglytuff doll.

"Delia, everyone's getting ready to go outside and watch Laurel…are you all right?" He noticed that Delia's eyes were red.

"I can't believe my baby's getting ready to leave go off on her own Pokémon journey."

Samuel had been worried that Delia would take Laurel's leaving hard, especially in light of the events of the past two and a half years. During that period of time he and Delia had tried unsuccessfully to have another baby. After two disheartening miscarriages, Delia had reluctantly accepted the fact that another baby wasn't meant to be. Then three weeks ago, Delia realized that she was starting menopause. Considering that she would be turning fifty later that year, it wasn't a huge surprise…but it was still hard for her to deal with, just the same. The timing had been particularly bad because that same day Brock and May had announced that they were expecting their first child. (Children, actually. Since then, they had learned that they were expecting twins.)

"Do you remember when she was born?"

"Of course I do," he said as he sat down on the bed next to his wife and put his arm around her.

---

Unlike the rainstorm that had washed out their garden wedding a year earlier, the morning of their first anniversary was clear and sunny. The bright sunlight streaming in their bedroom window awoke him early that morning. He squinted and turned to face his wife, who was also starting to stir.

"Happy anniversary, darling."

Delia awoke at the sound of her husband's voice and smiled sleepily. Then suddenly her face contorted.

"Oh no, not again!" She gagged as she quickly stumbled out of bed and darted for the bathroom.

__

Poor Delia, he thought as he heard her retching. She had been ill for the last three days with some sort of stomach bug. She had also been complaining lately about being tired all the time.

__

Probably from all that vomiting, he thought as he got out of bed and knocked at the bathroom door.

"Delia, sweetheart, are you all right?"

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, a very pale Delia answered the door.

"I really wish you'd see a doctor about this," he worried as he led her back to bed.

"Actually, Samuel, I did. Yesterday."

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because my doctor had a late-afternoon cancellation. I had fallen asleep by the time you got back from your lecture on the supersonic abilities of bat-type Pokémon."

"Well, what did the doctor say? It's not anything serious, is it?"

"Maybe you'd better sit down, Samuel."

Something about the way she had said that both concerned him and triggered a suspicious feeling in the back of his mind. Obediently, he sat down on the bed next to her. She smiled and took his hand.

"Samuel, I'm pregnant."

He stared at her in shocked disbelief.

__

Pregnant? Did she say she was pregnant?

Even though they hadn't really been trying to have a child, he knew that Delia wanted another baby. He hadn't really entertained the thought much because he knew that at their ages (he was nearly sixty-five, she was almost thirty-nine) the odds of their conceiving a child weren't great to begin with. 

But they had.

"Samuel? Please say something, darling. Are you all right?" She had noticed that he was quite pale.

"I'm just…I'm, oh my, I don't know what to say. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm certain. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Well, yes, it's wonderful, but…pregnant?"

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Don't you want to have a child?" Her smile faded. She had thought that he would've been thrilled by her news.

"Of course I do," he said as he leaned over and hugged her. "It's just that the thought of becoming a father again at my age is a little overwhelming. I'm sixty-four now, sixty-five when the baby will be born. By the way, when is the little one due?"

"February. Valentine's Day, believe it or not. But Ash was born a week late, so I wouldn't count on that date being exact."

He sat there in stunned silence for a moment, reflecting on what she had just told him.

__

Me a father again at sixty-five? Most other men my age are grandfathers at sixty-five. Wait, I am a grandfather. And now I'm going to be a father again. Oh my…this is just so unbelievable.

He stood up to get a glass of water from the bathroom and felt his knees buckle. Delia quickly grabbed his arm.

"Maybe I'd better lie down," he said weakly as he sank back down on the bed. Delia moved over to make room for him next to her.

__

Oh my God, I've killed him, Delia thought as he closed his eyes. _He's having a heart attack._

"Samuel, do I need to call the doctor?" she asked in near-panic.

"Why?" He shot up. "Are you all right? Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No," she said, relieved. "I thought you were ill."

"Oh, no. I'll be all right in a minute," he said as he laid back down. "It's just that I'm surprised by this morning's turn of events."

"Well, at least you won't forget our first anniversary," she said as she laid her head against his chest. (Even though she wanted to cuddle, she did have an ulterior motive. She wanted to check to make certain that he wasn't having a heart attack.)

"No, I definitely won't," he said as he wrapped his arms around her. "Matter of fact, it's the nicest anniversary present you could've given me. Happy anniversary, darling." He kissed her.

"Happy anniversary, sweetheart."

--- 

Ash and Misty rode down to the edge of the water Pokémon preserve and tethered their Rapidash to a nearby tree. (One of the advantages of being Professor Oak's stepson was that Ash had access to all the Pokémon in and outside the lab.) As the horse-type Pokémon grazed, Ash and Misty sat down at the edge of the river that flowed through the southern boundary of the preserve.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Ash?" Misty asked as she released her water Pokémon in the river to get some exercise. Ash had been unusually quiet that morning.

"My mom and Professor Oak are going to have a baby."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Misty gushed. "A baby! Aren't you excited?"

"Yeah, thrilled," Ash said in a voice that indicated that he wasn't thrilled at all.

"What's wrong, Ash? Aren't you happy for your mom and Professor Oak?"

At fifteen, Ash was at the age when he was sure that his parents had made it their life's mission to embarrass him. He had had a hard enough time accepting the fact that his mom and Professor Oak were having sex, but now they were basically advertising it to the world by having a baby. Ash shuddered. "Misty, she's my _mom_, for crying out loud! And Professor Oak, he's like…old!"

"Ash Ketchum, you selfish thing!" Misty exclaimed in disbelief. "I can't believe that you're embarrassed that your mom and stepfather are going to have a baby!" 

Ash scowled at her.

Misty continued her tirade. "You're the one who's acting like a baby! I can't believe you'd be jealous of a little brother or sister."

"I'm not jealous, Misty." Ash protested.

"Yes, you are! You've never had to share your mother's affection with anyone, and now along comes a baby to vie for her attention. You are jealous, Ash. Admit it."

Ash said nothing. Misty had touched a nerve.

"Why, I'd think that you'd be thrilled to have a little brother or sister to teach all about Pokémon and about becoming a Pokémon Master."

Ash perked up at this news. He had never thought about it that way.

"Hey, yeah, that's right. I can show them everything I've learned about being a Pokémon Master."

Misty smiled. She knew that appealing to Ash's ego would do the trick.

"And then maybe I can take them with me on my next Pokémon journey and help show them the right way to catch Pokémon! Hey, maybe he or she will become a Pokémon Master, too! Wouldn't that be something? Two Pokémon Masters with the last name of Ketchum!"

"Actually, Ash, the baby's last name will be Oak."

"Oh, you're right, Misty," Ash admitted. "But he or she will still be my brother or sister."

"Half-brother or half-sister, dolt. Get it right." Gary sneered as he came down the hill towards them. "So Grandpa already told you the news, huh?"

"Hey, at least I know how the baby will be related to me. And I'm still waiting for you to call me Uncle Ash," he said in mock sweetness.

"Well, don't hold your breath, because that'll never happen," Gary said as he tossed a handful of grass in Ash's direction.

"How will the baby be related to you, Gary?" Misty asked as she tried to figure it out in her head.

"He or she will be my half-uncle or half-aunt, something like that," Gary said as he sat down next to her on the riverbank. "It's already hard enough for me to be related to him," he said, pointing at Ash. "I hate to think how this poor kid's gonna feel when he or she is born."

"That's it!" Ash pounced on Gary and the two boys began wrestling.

Misty rolled her eyes. 

__

I hope this baby's a girl, she thought as Ash and Gary tumbled into the river. _I can't handle another guy like these._


	2. Chapter 2

"Looks like Friday the thirteenth is going to be your lucky day, Mrs. Oak," the obstetrician announced cheerfully as he entered the hospital room.

Delia, who was feeling pretty calm from the epidural anesthetic, smiled while her husband clutched her hand nervously. He was still adjusting to the idea of being in the same room during the baby's birth. When his son Robert had been born, all he had to do then was just sit in the waiting room until the nurse came out to announce that the baby had arrived. 

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord when the baby arrives, Professor?" The obstetrician waved a pair of scissors in his direction.

"Uh, no, that's all right," he said anxiously. Things certainly had changed a lot in the past forty years.

The doctor stationed himself at the foot of the bed. "All right, Mrs. Oak. I want you to push as hard as you can. Let's see if we can get this baby out here."

Delia tried pushing as hard as she could even though she couldn't feel the lower half of her body.

"Great. You're doing fine. There's the head." The doctor looked up with a grin. "Was your hair dark at one time, Professor?"

Professor Oak said nothing. He was too busy trying to concentrate on not doing something embarrassing like passing out in the middle of the delivery. Even though he had attended several Pokémon births, this was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before.

"One more push, Mrs. Oak," the doctor coaxed. Delia willingly obeyed. 

The doctor held up the crying, squirming baby. "Congratulations, it's a girl!"

At the first glimpse of his daughter, Professor Oak screwed up his face. "Is she supposed to look like that, all red and wrinkled?" 

Delia giggled tiredly. "Samuel, that's exactly how Ash looked when he was born." She fixed her eyes on her newborn daughter. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"I think you'll see a difference when we get her cleaned up, Professor," the nurse said as she took the baby.

Samuel then realized that he probably should say something nice to atone for his previous comment on the baby's appearance. "Well, it looks like Friday the thirteenth is our lucky day, after all."

"Actually," Delia nodded her head in the direction of the clock on the wall, which read six minutes after midnight. "Happy Valentine's Day."

---

Later that evening, he watched in fascination as Delia held their sleeping daughter in her arms. The nurse had been right; the baby did look much better after having had a bath.

"Why don't you hold her, Samuel?" Delia held the baby out to him.

"I? Me? I don't really know…how?"

"It's very simple. All you have to do is to remember to support her head like this. Now you try it." She handed him the baby.

He awkwardly took the baby, afraid that he might drop her. He couldn't remember ever holding Robert when he was this little. The baby opened her eyes and regarded her father for the first time. His heart melted at the sight of his daughter's big brown eyes…eyes that looked just like his wife's.

"See, she likes you," Delia said reassuringly.

He tenderly kissed the baby's forehead. "Welcome to the world, Laurel Samantha Oak."

---

"Wahhhhhh!"

The piercing cry pervaded his dreams and awoke him out of a sound sleep.

"Rose, Robert's crying," he mumbled as he nudged the woman in the bed next to him.

When there was no response, he wearily opened his eyes. The digital clock read 3:17 A.M.

__

Digital clock? Something didn't make sense here.

He then remembered that Rose had been dead for many years and that Robert was a grown man. Samuel then realized that the baby crying was Laurel and that the woman asleep next to him was Delia.

He nudged her again. "Delia, Laurel's crying." They had brought the baby home from the hospital earlier that day.

"I fed her last time," Delia mumbled. "It's your turn."

__

Huh?

"Delia, um, biologically I'm not able to…"

"There's a wonderful invention called a breast pump. I made up several bottles; they're downstairs in the refrigerator. Give her one of those." 

He was ready to tell her that he wasn't sure he knew how to feed a baby, but Delia was already snoring again. 

"Wahhhh!" The baby's cries were getting louder.

__

Well, guess I'd better give it a try as long as I'm up, he thought as he slid out of bed.

--- 

"Wahhhhh!!" 

"Coming. I'm coming," Samuel said wearily, bottle in hand, as he slowly trudged up the stairs to the baby's room. When he opened the door to the nursery, Laurel stopped crying and regarded him with a "what took you so long" expression. He picked up the baby, sat down with her in the nearby rocking chair, and stuck the bottle in her mouth. She eagerly sucked for two seconds, then her face then contorted in displeasure and she started crying again.

"What's wrong, Laurel?" He then realized that in his half-asleep state that he had forgotten to warm up the bottle. It was ice-cold.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Laurel," he said as he cuddled the wailing baby against his shoulder and started rocking her. "It's been years since your old father's done this." When he noticed that the rocking motion seemed to have a calming effect on her, he started to relax, too. 

__

What was that song that Rose used to sing to Robert, he wondered as both he and the baby yawned simultaneously. He couldn't remember all the words, so he decided to make up a lullaby of his own.

"Jig-gly-puff, Jig-g-ly…" 

Hey, if the Slumber Song worked for Jigglypuff, maybe it would work for him, too.

At the sound of her father's off-key baritone, Laurel relaxed and closed her eyes. After a couple of minutes, Samuel looked at his daughter. 

__

Thank you, Jigglypuff, he grinned as he gently put the sleeping baby back in her crib.

--- 

Professor Oak glanced at the clock in the lecture hall. Twenty minutes left to go. There was no was he was going to be able to make it through the rest of his lecture. He could barely keep his eyes open as he stumbled through his Pokémon biology lecture notes.

"Professor, what's the mechanism behind the ability of water Pokémon to use Hydro Pump and Water Gun attacks? It seems to me that small Pokémon like Squirtle and Poliwag would be unable to produce the large amounts of water that they do."

"That's an excellent question, Sarah," Professor Oak said as he turned to the white board in the front of the classroom. 

__

Except I'm too tired to remember all the details to explain it, he thought wearily as picked up the marker. His sleep-deprived brain had drawn a blank. 

__

Maybe if I close my eyes for just a second, it'll come to me.

"Professor Oak? Hey, Professor?"

Startled, he dropped the marker. With embarrassment, he realized that he had nodded off in the middle of writing his explanation on the board. Several of the students in the lecture hall giggled.

Hurriedly regaining his composure, he turned around to face the student who had asked him a question. "I'm sorry, David, what was the question?"

"I was asking you if you were all right, Professor."

"Um, I…Tell you what, since it's such a nice day, why don't I let you go a little bit early today?"

The students exchanged puzzled glances. There was an inch of snow and slush on the ground outside.

"Be sure to read the rest of chapter eight." He could overhear his students making several comments as they filed out of the classroom.

"…losing his mind."

"…getting senile."

"…Alzheimer's."

Professor Oak sighed and looked at the clock again. He had two hours until his next lecture; maybe he could sneak back to his office and sleep until then. As he headed back to his office, he overheard two female students talking about him in the hall.

"Is that him?"

"Yep."

"Ohmigod, he must be about seventy or eighty years old!" 

"Well, he is pretty old. I hear he's been teaching here for, like, forever."

"And you say he and his wife actually had a _baby_ the other day?"

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Ohmigod!"

"That's not all. I hear his wife, she's like twenty-five or thirty!" 

"No way! He must be pretty incredible in bed to keep up with her."

"Actually, I think it's the other way around. It looks like she's wearing him out. I heard he fell asleep in the middle of one of his lectures today."

"Ohmigod, No way!"

__

Oh great, now it's all over Celadon U. that I fell asleep during my lecture, he thought bitterly as he opened the door to his office. Well, he wouldn't worry about that now. The only thing he cared about was getting some sleep.

--- 

"Hey, Samuel, wake up!"

"No, Delia. It's your turn to feed the baby," he mumbled.

"Come on, Samuel, wake up." Someone shook his shoulder roughly. 

Slowly, he opened his eyes and found himself staring into the face of his friend and colleague, Professor John Hawthorn.

"That's better. It took me forever to wake you. I was getting ready to check to see if you were still alive," Professor Hawthorn said with a grin.

"Oh, John. What time is it?" He lifted his head from his desk and rubbed his aching neck.

"Nearly noon. I stopped by to see if you wanted to head over to the cafeteria and get some lunch." He regarded his friend with amusement. "What's wrong, Samuel? Delia wearing you out?"

"Actually, John, it's a younger female."

"Oh, the new baby, that's right." Professor Hawthorn sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk.

"Two hours of sleep, John. That's all I've had. And that wasn't even continuous; it was fifteen minutes here, ten minutes there."

"I don't understand, Samuel. I though you said Delia was going to nurse the baby. Why are you getting up in the middle of the night?"

"Have you ever heard of a wonderful invention called the breast pump?"

"Oh-ho, so now you're having to do feeding duty, too!" John laughed.

"Things have changed so much since our kids were little, John. Breast pumps, baby monitors, disposable diapers, plastic bottles, fathers in the delivery room. I can barely keep up."

"Well, don't worry, you'll do all right." John leaned over and slapped his friend's shoulder. "After all, you were brave enough to marry a woman nearly half your age, so you ought to be able to handle a baby as well."

"Except I'm not twenty-five years old anymore, John. I'm sixty-five. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep this up."

"Well, if my memory serves me correctly, the worst part is the first three months. That is, unless the baby gets colic and then it seems like the crying never ends."

"Oh God, don't say that!" Samuel dropped his head back on the desk with a resounding _thud_. "Ow!"

As Professor Hawthorn regarded his weary colleague with a mixture of sympathy and amusement, inspiration struck. 

"Don't take this the wrong way, Samuel, but have you ever thought about retiring?"

"Huh?" Professor Oak looked up and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead where it had collided with the hard wood of his desk.

"Look at you. You can barely keep your eyes open. Keep this up and pretty soon you're going to drop dead during the middle of one of your lectures. And I'll be damned if I'm going to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," John chuckled. "Look, you've been teaching here for over thirty years, you're sixty-five, you'll get a full pension. Why don't you just stop teaching and focus on your work at the lab?"

"Oh, John, I don't know. I enjoy teaching young people about Pokémon."

"But if you spend your days at your lab, you can always take a break and go have a nap or help Delia out with the baby. And you can still help young people learn about Pokémon; I'm sure Celadon U. will continue to send you graduate students to help you out with your research." 

Professor Oak thought about it for a moment. The idea certainly was appealing. At least if he stayed put at his lab all day, he could always get Tracey or one of his other research assistants to take over now and then and let him get some much-needed rest. And he would be able to spend more time with Delia and Laurel. One thing he had regretted while Robert was growing up was all the time he had spent away from his son. Sometimes he gone away for weeks at a time on research expeditions for the university and would return to discover that Robert had changed so much while he had been away. 

Well, he wasn't going to make that same mistake again. He had a second chance now with Laurel, and he wasn't going to let it pass him by.

"And perhaps your daughter will follow in your footsteps. Maybe she'll become a Pokémon researcher, too. Another Professor Oak."

__

Laurel a Pokémon researcher? What a wonderful idea!

Samuel's mind was made up. 

With gratitude, he smiled at his old friend. "Thank you, John." 

"Shall we go get something to eat?" Professor Hawthorn stood up and made his way to the door.

"No, that's all right. But do me a favor. Check on me in a half-hour. I have a one o'clock lecture." Professor Oak dropped his head back on the desk and closed his eyes. 

"Want me to bring you back some coffee?"

When Samuel didn't respond, John turned around and saw that his friend was sound asleep. Professor Hawthorn smiled and quietly shut the door.

--- 

When he got home later that afternoon, he found Delia and Laurel asleep on the couch in the living room. 

"Poor Mrs. Oak. She's so tired." Tracey whispered as he stuck his head in the doorway. "I even tried helping her out by giving the baby a bottle a couple of times so she could get some sleep."

"Thank you, Tracey. That's very kind of you."

"No problem, Professor. We've got some data on the Cloyster samples we took if you want to see it."

"I'll be there in a minute, Tracey." As Tracey disappeared down the hall, Samuel yawned and curled up on the couch next to his wife and daughter.

__

A five-minute nap won't hurt anything, he thought as he closed his eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, Tracey came back in search of his boss. He found all three of them - father, mother, and child - asleep on the sofa. 

--- 

"It seems like yesterday Laurel was a tiny baby, and now she's getting ready to leave us," Delia said sadly.

"She won't be gone forever, Delia. It's just for a little while." 

"I feel so old," Delia lamented.

"Try dealing with knowing that you're going to be a great-grandfather in six months," he said with a slight smile. "Oh Delia, even though we can't have any more babies of our own, we'll soon have other babies around to keep us company. Brock and May's children, maybe Ash and Misty will have a baby soon. Who knows, maybe Gary will remarry and have some children of his own." (During the past year Gary and married and subsequently divorced Duplica.)

Laurel came running into the bedroom. "Mom! Dad! Come outside! Mandy and I are getting ready to have our first Pokémon battle!"

"Mandy? Who's Mandy?"

"That's what I named my Charmander. Charmander, Mandy…get it?"

"We'll be down in a minute, dear." As Laurel hurried downstairs, Delia's frown disappeared in a fit of giggles.

"Did you see the hat?" Laurel had been wearing a baseball cap just like Ash's. It had been his birthday gift to her.

"It's good to see you smile again, Delia," Samuel said as he kissed his wife. "Now come on. I don't want to miss a minute of this!"

Even though it was the middle of February, the day had been so unusually warm that they had decided to hold their Pokémon battle outside. Ash and Laurel faced off on opposite ends of the lawn in the backyard as Brock refereed.

"Don't think I'm going to go easy on you because you're my sister," Ash said.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from a Pokémon Master," Laurel responded. 

Brock raised his arm. "Let the battle begin!"

In perfect imitation of her brother, Laurel turned the baseball cap on her head around and threw her Poké ball. "Charmander, I choose you!"

"Boy, that brings back memories," Ash exclaimed as the fire Pokémon appeared in a flash of red light. "Be sure to remind me to give you some tips on how to train a Charmander."

"Just don't ask Ash about how to train a Charizard," Misty interjected.

Ignoring his wife's comments, Ash turned to his Pokémon. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Pika!" Pikachu was eager to battle.

"And because it's your birthday, I'll let you make the first move."

"Okay, Mandy, let's get started with an ember attack!" A stream of fire shot out of her Pokémon's mouth.

"Pikachu, use your agility!" Pikachu deftly darted out of the way of the blazing embers.

"Mandy, try another ember attack!"

"Pikachu, jump out of the way and then give it your thundershock!"

The electric mouse Pokémon leaped out of the way, then let loose with a powerful thundershock that knocked the other Pokémon senseless.

"Mandy!" Laurel ran to her Pokémon and cradled it in her arms.

"Charmander is unable to battle. Victory goes to Ash and Pikachu," Brock announced.

"Ash! I can't believe you did that!" Misty exclaimed, eyes blazing with fury.

"Huh? Did what?" a puzzled Ash replied.

"Beating up on your little sister's Pokémon like that! All you ever think about is winning!"

"But Misty," Ash protested. "I told her that I wasn't going to go easy on her because she was my sister."

"It doesn't matter. You shouldn't have been so rough. And because of that, I'm not going to go easy on you tonight, either! Matter of fact, you can forget all about tonight!" Misty stomped off.

"But Misty…."

Professor Oak went over to his daughter's Pokémon and examined it.

"It's all right, Laurel. She's just fainted, that's all. Why don't we take her back to the lab and let Mandy have a good rest?"

"Okay, Dad." Laurel picked up her Pokémon in her arms and followed her father back to the laboratory. Brock and May went back inside, too, leaving Ash and his mother together on the lawn.

"But I told her that I wasn't going to easy on her," Ash protested weakly.

"Go apologize to Misty," Delia told her son.

"What? Why should I? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Just go tell Misty that you're sorry. Besides, the sooner that you do, the sooner you and Misty can get started on giving me some grandchildren."

"Mom!" Ash's face reddened. "Oh, all right," he said grudgingly as he went after his wife.

__

Heaven help us if Ash and Misty's children are as stubborn as their parents, Delia thought as she went back inside.

--- 

The following week Laurel was getting ready to start her journey as a Pokémon trainer.

"Here's your backpack," Delia said as she handed it to her daughter. "I packed your sneakers, some clean clothes, some clean underwear, some of your favorite snacks, some hot chocolate in case you want something hot – be careful not to burn yourself, a clothesline and some rubber gloves to do your laundry…."

"Mom! Don't you know that I'm a big kid now? Pokémon trainers can take care of themselves," Laurel exclaimed as she snatched the backpack out of her mother's hands.

Ash smiled. He had said the same thing when he first started his Pokémon journey nearly sixteen years ago. Ash had agreed to accompany his sister as far as Viridian City, partially because he wanted to and partially because Misty insisted that it was the only way he could make it up to Laurel for beating up her Charmander.

"I understand," Delia said as she bent down to zip up her daughter's jacket. "Ash, be sure to watch out for your sister."

"Don't worry, Mom," Ash said as he kissed his mother's cheek. "Once we get to Viridian City, Gary will take over for me." (Gary had taken over Giovanni's gym and was now the Viridian City Gym Leader.)

"Well, I guess you're in good hands, then. You'd better get started so you can make it to Viridian City before the sun sets." Delia hugged her daughter. "Take care, Laurel. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." Laurel then went over to her father and hugged him. "I love you too, Dad."

"I love you too, Laurel. Be careful, sweetheart."

The two of them watched silently until Laurel and Ash had disappeared down the road.

"There goes our baby," Delia sniffed. 

Samuel had come prepared. He held out his handkerchief to his wife. 

"Thanks," she said as she took his handkerchief, blew her nose in it, and handed it back to him. "Looks like you could use one, too."

"Well, I guess I am a little sad about losing my favorite lab assistant. That girl is going to make an outstanding research scientist someday."

"Well, why shouldn't she? After all, she's the daughter of the brilliant Professor Samuel Oak."

"Laurel is the brilliant one," he corrected her. "She knows more about Pokémon at ten than I did when I completed graduate school." 

"Maybe she'll decide to become a Pokémon Master like her brother." After all, Laurel had been wearing her official Pokémon League baseball cap when she and Ash had set off on their journey.

"That's true. Perhaps she'll do both. Laurel has a bright future ahead of her." Samuel turned to his wife and put his arms around her. "And so do we." 

"Guess you'd better get back to the lab and back to your research," Delia suggested.

"Actually, I was thinking that now that we have the house to ourselves, why don't we enjoy it?" 

"That's not the kind of research I meant, Samuel," she giggled.

"Why don't I tell my assistant that I'll be busy for the next couple of hours conducting a private study?" he said as he took her arm and the two of them walked back up the steps to their house. 'The Physiological Response to Sexual Stimulation in the Adult Human Male and Female.' "

"You really are terrible, Samuel," she blushed as they opened the front door. "Honestly, I don't know how I can keep up with you sometimes."

"Now that's unusual," he noted as the two went upstairs to their bedroom. "The young wife unable to keep up with her elderly husband. I guess we'll have to do some extra research on that," he laughed as he started peeling off her clothes.

And for the rest of the afternoon, that's exactly what they did.

THE END


End file.
